If you’ve been visiting the site long enough, you may remember me talking about my friend Christian DeReimer from time to time. I originally met Christian way back at the first Digital Overload in 2006, and for the past eight years I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know him and his family a bit.

To talk to Christian online, or play a game with him, you’d have no idea that he lives with a disability. But Christian has a rare type of muscular dystrophy, which has left him wheelchair-bound and with the use of only one of his hands. He depends on a ventilator 24/7.

None of that has slowed him down. Christian is going to college, he’s in theater, he’s still a massive gamer and an all around great guy. He’s someone I can chat and joke around with, and in the eight years I’ve known him, despite all he has to deal with, not once have I ever seen him feeling depressed or sorry for himself. He’s always up. He’s been a big inspiration to me for a long time.

I try not to go overboard posting charitable causes on my website, so that when I do you know it’s something that means a lot to me. And I’ll go to bat for Christian and his family any and every chance I get.

To get to the point here, they’re in a bit of a rough patch. Christian’s mother was diagnosed with cancer a while back. The bills involved with Christian’s disability are pretty substantial as it is, and now the hospital bills have been thrown into the mix. And because that’s not enough, the handicap van that Christian relies on, to get around and for his much deserved independance, is on its last legs. They could really use a hand.